Why Outlander could have shorter turnarounds for future seasons

If there is one thing that many an Outlander fan knows a thing or two about already, it is the concept of a Droughtlander at large. This is the process of going through an agonizing wait following the end of one season to the premiere of the next, and following just about every season, the wait has been a long one. Ever since Outlander began airing in 13-episode batches starting in season 2, we had to wait at least 14 months from the start of one season to the start of the next. Sometimes, that has meant having to go more than 365 days without an episode on the air. That is going to be the case entering season 5, given that it is not slated to premiere until February 16.

Yet, is this pattern going to change in the future? There are some reasons to think that it is possible, and it’s a reminder that just one fewer episode, plus some established sets, can make some sort of a difference.

By the time that season 5 is said and done in a couple of weeks, the season will have been in production for a little over seven months. That’s a decent chunk shorter than the length of production for any of the most-recent seasons, which have teetered more in the eight-to-nine-month range. Having 13 episodes is one reason for that; meanwhile, season 3 had its own fair share of challenges given that some of the cast needed to head out to South Africa to shoot the final installments.

With a shorter filming window, that means less time in post-production. Meanwhile, that means more free time for the cast to do some other things within the span of a single year. That means that every could be back to work in a slightly shorter amount of time, and that Starz could get a season 6 at some point in early 2021. Think about it like this — if the cast is done this month and if filming for season 6 started up in April (similar to happened this year), everyone will have a nice break, long enough to feasibly do at least one other role.

While we cannot guarantee that the era of long Droughtlanders is over — filming could be delayed for many reasons — there is at least a possibility of it that was not there previously.

Do you long for shorter breaks between Outlander seasons?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Meanwhile, remember to stick around — we’ll continue to give you more updates the moment we’ve got them.

Photo: Starz